


Cause & Causality

by Lamia of the Dark (VisceraNight)



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Brief Appearance by Otto Octavius, Dimension Travel, Gen, Humor, Interdimensional shenanigans, Not Really Romance But Could Be Construed As Flirting If You Squint, Technically Enemies But They Don't Really Act like It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 09:38:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19196287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceraNight/pseuds/Lamia%20of%20the%20Dark
Summary: Peter B gets shoved through a wormhole and ends up back in Miles's dimension, where he has a very awkward conversation with Liv.





	Cause & Causality

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a challenge with the prompt: "When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." — Alexander Graham Bell
> 
> A secondary challenge was to come up with at least the first 200 words in under 24 hrs, which is why this turned into what it did.

~ Cause & Causality ~

" 'When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.' "

"I don't think  _this_  is what Alexander Graham Bell meant," Spiderman protested as he was shoved unceremoniously through one of the stable wormholes generated by Doc Ock's new machine.

When he came out on the other side, he found himself in... Doc Ock's lab. Not the same exact one he'd just come from, but a different one that he was also familiar with.

Upon recognizing her, he quickly held up his hands in the 'surrender' position to let her know that he hadn't come with hostile intentions, before peeling his mask back with one hand so she could see  _which_  Spiderman he was.

"Hello, Peter," Olivia Octavius greeted him cheerfully. "Have a seat." She gestured to an empty chair.

"Yeah, hi, Dr. Octavius." He had a hard time keeping a note of sarcasm out of his voice, but gratefully collapsed into the offered seat.

"There's no need to be so formal," she said. "You can just call me Liv."

"Uh, yeah... no. The uh, Liv thing is still kinda weird for me."

"Oh? Is it because we're still technically enemies, or because I'm not called that in your universe?"

"Uh, well, you know, Liv doesn't really work as a nickname for Otto, so..."

"So I'm a man in your universe? Fascinating."

"Anyway," Peter said, cringing a bit from the fanatical light that sparked in her eyes at the mention of the differences between their two universes. "Can you send me back? I kinda need to go punch  _my_  Doc Ock in the face."

"Hmm? Oh... no. My machine isn't operational at the moment. Sorry."

He let out a heavy sigh. "Well, that's just great."

"You said you were going to punch 'your' Doc Ock in the face. What about me? Are you planning to punch me in the face?"

"What? No! You're not the one who sent me here." After a brief pause, Peter added, "... this time, anyway. Wait... do you  _want_  me to try to punch you in the face? You'd already know it was coming - because I already told you - and you would probably just block it with one - or more - of your tentacles."

She stared at him contemplatively for a few long moments. Peter was the one to become uncomfortable with the silence first.

"By the way," he said, "the Doc Ock from my dimension is, uh..." At this point he faltered, as he realized that his interlocutor might be offended by what he had to say. He saw that her eyes were sparkling with excitement over the prospect of learning something about her alternate-universe self, and he felt even more conflicted about actually saying what he was about to say, but he was too socially awkward to  _not_  keep going. "He's uh, well... he's not as... nice as you-"

"Aw, you think I'm nice?" Olivia commented. Then, realizing she'd interrupted him, flashed him a sheepish smile and said, "Sorry, continue."

"Well, I mean, in comparison he's definitely  _less_  nice than you. He did shove me through a wormhole."

"And that's how you ended up in  _my_  lab instead of his. But there's no wormhole here," she said.

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem. Do you think maybe you could help me get back home?"

"As I mentioned before, my machine isn't operational at the moment. I don't suppose you happened to grab any of Otto's data while you were there?"

Peter sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "Didn't really think of that while I was, you know, fighting not to get shoved through a wormhole."

"I'm a missing a few essential components," she told him with a speculative expression on her face, which he did not like the look of. "If you could... spider along and get them for me, we could have you home in short order."

"Great," Peter said, somehow managing to sound more enthusiastic than sarcastic. He slid his mask back on, then stood up and stretched. "Where are the goobers?"

~end~


End file.
